I (Iryna) Lunevich MA

Iryna’s research interests are at the intersection of STS and Urban Studies, with a focus on public engagement in sociotechnical controversies, management and governance of urban infrastructure, sustainable and smart cities. Iryna's PhD project investigates how visions of urban wind energy futures open up new ways of integrating wind energy in the urban environment.

In the context of ongoing urban energy transitions, an increasing number of city governments have demonstrated interest in producing wind energy in cities. The deployment of urban wind energy systems gives rise to multiple visions of how cities with extensive presence of wind turbines might look like in the future. These visions set in motion transformations of various urban systems.

Drawing on socio-technical imaginaries and urban assemblages, her study explores the role of wind energy imaginaries in integrating wind energy in cities. It investigates how imaginaries destabilize urban assemblages and restabilize them into new configurations. It specifically looks at how elements of urban material form, practices of socio-material ordering and day-to-day management of urban infrastructures, as well as socio-professional relations, and energy practices of urban dwellers are reassembled. Based on the case studies of three innovative urban wind energy projects -- a roof integrated wind and solar energy system Power Nest, the Dutch WindWheel and Wind Tree, this project explores the effects of these imaginaries on the (re)design of buildings, infrastructure networks, and urban public spaces. Furthermore, the study investigates how imaginaries are getting transformed in the process of de- and re-stabilisation of assemblages. The results will contribute to understanding how imaginaries can foster urban socio-material changes and how they can be used as tools for governing urban wind energy transitions.